For those who don’t know, the ISEB / ISTQB Foundation software testing syllabus has been slightly updated and was re-released in April 2011 (do not worry, our ISEB / ISTQB Foundation package is completely up-to-date with the April 2011 syllabus). The changes to the syllabus are minimal as this was simply a maintenance release. That said, there are two changes you should keep in mind.

First, the updated syllabus no longer includes the term test strategy, so learning this is no longer required to pass the exam. Second, regarding the idea of traceability between the test basis and test cases, the term re-testing has replaced the term confirmation testing.

Regarding the actual exam, this has not changed at all. It is still the same multiple-choice exam where you are required to correctly answer 26 of the 40 questions to pass. The questions themselves are top secret and for each exam session are randomly selected from a database containing hundreds of exam questions.

So other than the 2 minor adjustments mentioned above, along with some minor formatting tweaks, the April 2011 syllabus is essentially the same as its predecessor. Still, I recommend only going with a training provider like universalexams.com that has incorporated these minor syllabus revisions into its Foundation level curriculum. It certainly can’t hurt!